Always offensive and usually hilarious, insult comedian Daniel Tosh isn’t one that is typically recognized for progressive activism when it comes to civil rights. For example, that incident back in 2012 when he told a heckler (yelling that rape jokes aren’t funny) that it would be funny if she were raped comes to mind, and the internet wasn’t all in favor of that one. Jezebel was especially critical, as you’ll see in a minute. This time, however, it isn’t the same Tosh that we’re used to. Instead of dropping rape or racist jokes, he engages in a bit of pro-civil rights rapping. Not that he’s any good at rapping — he’s quite terrible. But the intelligently worded bit of offensiveness he casts toward this homophobic individual might bring a smile, so here’s the video, courtesy of the Tosh.0 blog.

Tosh.0

To be fair to the girl, it’s difficult to tell exactly what she’s trying to say, which seems likely due to a tenuous grip on English grammar, although that could be said about a large number of rappers. She definitely has some interesting ideas on homosexuality, saying that it is not “innate,” and also that it’s simply an “imitation” of “real” love. Real love is, of course, only between a man and a woman in this narrow definition. Also, if it’s a counterfeit, fake and just all around worse than heterosexuality, and we furthermore assume that sexuality is a choice, why is it attractive enough to actually be a problem to fight against?

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Oh, now she explains. HIV, of course! Well, apparently she has yet to learn that correlation does not imply causation. Higher rates of HIV among homosexuals are scientifically more attributable to anal sex being more common in same-sex couples. That’s not to say straights don’t have anal sex, as well; actually, because there are far more women than homosexual men, there are more women having anal sex. So much for an unnatural abomination.

Young people like this girl make the cause of the disease behind bigotry stand out nice and clear — ignorance. Instead of learning facts about the world and using them to draw useful conclusions, she learns useless conclusions from people in positions of authority and then absorbs false information to back them up. None of what she said has any grounding in fact, as any human sexuality expert can tell you, but that doesn’t matter to people like this.

Tosh’s rap, on the other hand, was surprisingly enlightened. Minus that bit about the Cleveland Steamer, which we will not describe and we recommend against looking up.

“Queers will fornicate and co-habitate just like you will menstruate. This is not up for debate.”

That’s my favorite line in his silly little song. Opponents of same-sex marriage equality seem to have this strange idea that homosexuality is a “lifestyle” in a different sense than heterosexuality being a “lifestyle.” It’s all sex and fun for gays; clubs and parades and back to the house for an orgy. Gays don’t love, gays don’t have “normal” lives. That’s simply not true, and it’s ignorant to assume so.

I’m not going to discuss his rap any longer — I really want you to watch the video — so I’ll comment on his rape comment scandal from last year. This is my personal view on the scandal:

He’s an insult comic, and in most of his supporter’s eyes, that’s the end of the story. Rape jokes need to be made, some argue; we need to laugh at our pain as a society. I don’t know that I agree with that — I think making rape culture jokes is okay, but am not so sure about personally directed rape jokes. Others, especially Jezebel, were especially rough, and given the context of the situation, I really can’t agree with their side of it.

First of all, the female heckler that took to the internet with her complaint did it in a dramatic blog posting about what happened (well, through a friend), including saying she fled the show because she was scared of what was going to happen to her. That’s difficult to take seriously, but I guess it is possible that someone could be legitimately scared in that context.

The second thing, that is not okay, is that hypocritical reporting by certain news outlets regarding this incident. For example, in Jezebel‘s above-linked piece, the writer talks about several contexts, and by extension, comedians, that are okay to make rape jokes. She mentions and uses comedian Louis C.K and a joke he made about when it’s okay to rape someone; Louis C.K also, in episode 106 of hisshow, Louie, has a section where his character attacks a female heckler. The topic turns to rape, and he states that she was the product of a rape before asking if she can do him “a favor, and just die of AIDS.” He then adds, to the audience, “Does anybody have AIDS who could put their d**k in her face and get her started on that?” As if that’s not enough, he also says it’s good that her mother is dead, because “she can’t make any more c***s with her c***.”

If I thought such things from comics should be found insulting, that would be much worse than Tosh’s. However, comedians attack hecklers, and if you’re attacking an insult comic because of a rape joke, it’s not unlikely that they’re going to do their best to piss you off. I think there will always be comedians that make jokes like these, most of us will always laugh and some of us will get pissed off. Just the way it is.

Tosh, if you read this, let me get an interview. I’d like to ask you some questions.

5 Comments

So… she didn’t say one vulgar thing about anyone and the response is to call her all the nastiest names in the book? I will never understand liberals. Heck, I was one myself once for about a decade and I still will never understand them. They constantly preach and demand “tolerance” for themselves, but they never — NEVER — afford it to anyone who dares disagree with them.